Improvement in ash-sifters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES SPEA'R, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ASH-SIFTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,990, dated April 15, 1862.

city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Cooking Stoves and Ranges, of which the following is a specification.

- The trouble heretofore experienced in cooking stoves-and ranges has been that/after the fire is raked and the ashes drawn away from under the fire-grate intothe ash-pit they have had to be removed by means ofv a shovel from the hearth to'a bucket or other vessel, in order to be conveyed from the stove or range, causing'a great deal of .dust and dirt in the room. At the sametime'bothth'e. ashes and unburned coal are removed together, which requires to be sifted, or a large amount of fuel'is wasted in the course of a year. 'Again, when siftinggrates have been, used, they have been simply flat grates laid in the sunk part of the hearth, and the ashes had to be worked through this siftingrate by means of a poker. This operation caused a great deal of dust and dirt, as in many cases this flat sifting-grate had to be lifted out before the ashes could be removed.

The object of my invention is the finding of a ready means of separating the unburned coal from the ashes before removing them from the stove, and also an easy manner of removing the ashes and unburned coal from the stove when they are separated, and that without causing dust 'or dirt in the room. In order to accomplish this, I have so constructed the'hearth of a cookingstove as to contain a large ash-drawer, which is easily removed, and over it I have placed a siftingpan having a vibratory motion. As the ashes are raked fromthe fire and drawn into this sifting-pan, it can be rapidly 'moved back and forth by means of a handle, which motion separatesthe ashes from the unburned coal. IVhen this operation is being performed, the

stove can be so entirely closed as to allow no dust to escape into the room. It will be observed that the sifting of the ashes can be accomplished in this manner much better thanunder my patent of February 19, 186], as in that case the ashes had to be worked through the sifting-drawer by means of a poker.

drawings, .and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Take any of the well-known, large-oven, fiat-top cooking-stoves with the elevated hearth, and remove the bottom of the hearth or ash-pit, and in place thereof attach a box 0, having two horizontal bars 0 0 running lengthwise of the box, as is shown in Figures 6 and 2. Oil-these bars I have placed the carrier D, Fig. 5, and on this. carrier I have" vplaced the sieve A, Fig. 4, which is held in place by the flange on the carrier D. A vibratory motion is imparted to the sieve by means of the handle H, projecting through] the side of the box 0, as is shown in Fig, 1-.

Underneath this sieve I have placed the ash-.

drawer B, Fig. 7, which catches the ashes as they fall from the sieve. Fig. 3 represents the stove with the ash-pan, sieve, and carrier in place and the fire doors and slides in the heartlrplate closed. It will be perceived that by this arrangement the ashes can be sifted before they are removed from the stove, and

,thatwithout dust or dirt in the room, as all parts of the stove areclosed when the operation of sifting is going on.

I am well aware that sifting grates have been used in cooking-stoy'es-but this simply I do not claim; nor'do I confine myself to any particular mode of giving the sieve a vibratory motion but WVhat I do claim, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the ash-sieve A, drawer l3, and box 0 with the removable frame D, when applied to the hearth of a stoye, and con.- structed to operate substantially as described.

JAMES SPEAR.

Witnesses:

SOLOMON SPEAR, WILLIAM A. ALLEN. 

